Nicholas Hornyansky (Hungarian/Canadian, 1896-1965) ARCA, OSA, CPE, FIAL, ACPS
‘The Navy Hall and Fort George’
Aquatint / etching
(image): 4 1/8” high x 5 ½” wide
(frame): 8 3/8” high x 10 3/8” wide
Original Label: “Navy Hall // The four clapboarded buildings known collectively as Navy Hall were built during the American Revolution, and were the co-eval with Butler’s Barracks. They stood on the margin of the Niagara River near Fort George and were designed to serve as winter headquarters for the officers and seamen on duty on Lake Ontario. Only one of those four buildings remains today. It was known as the “Red Barracks.” The artist has given an excellent idea of its appearance as preserved by the Niagara Parks Commission. About it is a pleasantly landscaped scene and within is a great treasury of relics associated with the early history of the area. // Navy Hall was a long, low structure of axe-hewn timbers covered with a siding of narrow boards. In 1864 it was moved away from the river when the Michigan Central Railway line was cut through. The Commission moved it back to its old site and encased it in stone as the best means of preserving what remained of the original structure. // Navy Hall will be forever associated with the name of John Graves Simcoe, the first governor of Upper Canada. Appointed in 1791, arriving by midsummer of the next year, there had been no time to prepare an official residence, so one of the Navy Hall buildings, probably the one in the picture, was readied for him and his family. Many historians believe the first session of his first parliament was also held here. Both conjectures are supported by strong probabilities.” ~ Courtesy, Louis Blake Duff
Markings: titled and signed in margins; original label verso
Condition: Excellent, Vintage
For Accuracy: a vintage item it may show expected light signs of age. The image is bright and crisp and the title and signature clear. It has been reframed well by a previous owner. Ready for Display.
Artist Biography: HORNYANSKY, Nicholas (Hungarian, Canadian, 1896-1965) ARCA, OSA, CPE, FIAL, ACPS. Born in Budapest, Hungary he worked as a colour mixer in the printing office of his father by the age of 12. STUDIED: Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest, under Prof. Ballo (portrait painting) and Prof. Pasteiner (aesthetics); Graduate Studies in Vienna, Munich, Antwerp and Paris; Simultaneous Colour aquating with Sagnelonge, Etching under Aba-Novak; edition studio in Brussels. INFLUENCES: Van Eyck; Breughel (The Younger); El Greco; Diego Rivera. WORKED: Belgium as an accomplished portrait painter; As part of the School of Hens with Franz Hens doing landscape painting; Worked with Franz henz. EXHIBITED: Grand Salon of Budapest (at age 16); London as a Portrait Painter; teacher Ontario College of Art (1945-1958); Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery (1967); Lionel Clarke Galleries Toronto (1967); The Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery and Museum of Fine Art, Owen Sound, Ontario (1968); California Printmakers; Philadelphia Society of Etchers; Northwest Printmakers (Seattle); American Academy of Design; Prairie Printmakers (Kansas); Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art; Society of American Etchers (New York); Souther Printmakers (Mount Airy); and the American Colour Print Society of Philadelphia.. COLLECTIONS: National Gallery of Canada; Royal Ontario Museum; National Print Collection, Library of Congress; New Mexico Museum (Santa Fe); Pennsylvania Museum of Art (Philadelphia); Musee Plantyn (Antqerp); Hart House, U of T; The John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library. Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp; Museum Modene, Ghent, Antwerp; Dowage Queen Elizabeth, Belgium; Govenment Collection, London, England; Rothschild Collection, Trink Castle; Exhibited: Toronto (1929); Royal Canadian Academy; Ontario Society of Artists; Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers (1939 onwards); ASSOCIATIONS: Associate Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1943); Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers & Engravers (Pres. 194301958); American Color Print Society (Philadelphia), and the Ontario Society of Artists, Life Fellow, International Instutute of Arts and Letters. AWARDS: “Fifty Prints Of the Year,” American Federation of Art (1932, 1933); The G. A. Reid Silver Memorial Award (1955); Sterling Trust’s First Purchase Award (CPE); E. A. Klein First Purchase Award (Philadelphia)
